33

of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of <Israel>: Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of the covenant, which I commanded your fathers.” Who especially hears “the words of the covenant which God commanded the fathers”? Is it those who believe in him, or those who are shown not even to believe Moses by their not having believed in the Lord? For the Savior says to them: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” Therefore, they have not believed in Moses, but we, who believe in Christ, believe in the covenant through Moses, and to us it is said, so that we might not become accursed: “Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of the covenant, which I commanded the fathers.” They, therefore, are accursed; for they did not hear the covenant, which God commanded the fathers “on the day,” he says, “that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.” And God led us out “from the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace,” especially according to the one who understood what is written in the Revelation of John, that the place “where their Lord was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.” For if it is “spiritually called Egypt,” and this Egypt is not the Egypt that is spiritually called Egypt, for it is perceptible, it is clear that if you understand the Egypt that is spiritually called Egypt and you come out of it, you are the one who has come out “from the land of Egypt and from the iron furnace,” and it is said to you: “Hear my voice and do according to all” these things. Then there is the promise of God to those who hear, if they do what is commanded, saying: “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Not everyone who says they are God’s people is God’s people. That people, therefore, who promised to be God’s people heard “you are not my people” in the phrase “because you are not my people,” and it was said to that people “not my people,” and again this people was called “a people”; for “they made me jealous with what is not God”—he speaks about them—“they provoked me to anger with their idols; and I will make them jealous with those who are not a nation, 9.3 I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” We, therefore, have become a people for God, and “the righteousness of God is proclaimed to the people who will be born,” the people from the nations. For this people is born all at once, and it is said in the prophet: “Has a nation been born <at> once?”; and a nation was born at once, when the Savior visited and on one day “five thousand” believed and on another day three thousand were added, and one can see a whole people being born by the word of God and the barren one, she who had not previously given birth, giving birth all at once, to whom it is said: “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one are more than of her who has a husband”; this one was desolate of the law, this one was desolate of God, but that synagogue has been said to have the law as a husband. What then does God promise me? “You shall be my people, and I will be your God.” He is not the God of all, but of those to whom he bestows himself, just as he bestowed himself on that patriarch to whom he said: “I am your God,” and again to another: “I will be your God,” and concerning others: “I will be their God.” When then do we attain, I speak of each one, to God’s being our God? But if you wish to learn whose God he is and to whom he grants his invocation: “I am,” he says, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,” and explaining this sort of thing the Savior says: “God is not of the dead but of the living.” Who is the dead? The sinner, the one not having him who said: “I am the life,” the one having “dead works,” the one who has not yet repented from “dead works,” about which the apostle says: “not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works.” If, therefore, “God is not a God of the dead but of the living,” and we know who

33

διαθήκης ταύτης, καὶ λαλήσατε πρὸς ἄνδρας Ἰούδα καὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς <Ἰσραὴλ>· ἐπικατάρατος ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἀκού σεται τῶν λόγων τῆς διαθήκης, ἧς ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατρά σιν ὑμῶν.» Τίς μάλιστα ἀκούει «τῶν λόγων τῆς δια θήκης ἧς ἐνετείλατο ὁ θεὸς τοῖς πατράσιν»; Ἆρά γε οἱ πιστεύοντες ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἢ οἱ μηδὲ Μωσεῖ πιστεύειν ἀποδεικ νύμενοι ἐκ τοῦ μὴ πεπιστευκέναι ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον; Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ σωτὴρ πρὸς ἐκείνους· «Εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν· εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου γράμμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασι πιστεύσετε;» Οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνοι εἰς Μωσῆν οὐ πεπι στεύκασιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ πιστεύοντες εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύομεν τῇ διαθήκῃ τῇ διὰ Μωσέως, καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς λέγεται, ἵνα μὴ κατάρατοι γενώμεθα· «Ἐπικατάρατος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἀκούσεται τῶν λόγων τῆς διαθήκης, ἧς ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν.» Ἐκεῖνοι οὖν ἔχουσιν τὸ ἐπικατάρατοι εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἤκουσαν τῆς διαθήκης, ἧς ἐνετείλατο ὁ θεὸς τοῖς πατράσιν «ἐν ἡμέρᾳ» φησὶν «ᾗ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς». Καὶ ἡμᾶς ἑξήγαγεν ὁ θεὸς «ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς», μάλιστα κατὰ τὸν νοήσαντα τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐν τῇ Ἀποκα λύψει Ἰωάννου, ὅτι ὁ τόπος «ὅπου ὁ κύριος αὐτῶν ἐσταυ ρώθη καλεῖται πνευματικῶς Σόδομα καὶ Αἴγυπτος». Εἰ γὰρ «πνευματικῶς καλεῖται Αἴγυπτος», οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ αὕτη ἡ Αἴγυπτος ἡ πνευματικῶς καλουμένη Αἴγυπτος, αἰσθητὴ γάρ, δῆλον ὅτι ἐὰν νοήσῃς τὴν πνευματικῶς καλουμένην Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἐξέλθῃς ἀπ' αὐτῆς, σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐξελθὼν «ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς» καὶ λέγεται πρὸς σέ· «Ἀκούσατε τῆς φωνῆς μου καὶ ποιή σατε κατὰ πάντα» ταῦτα. Εἶτ' ἐπαγγελία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστι πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἐὰν ποιήσωσιν ἃ ἐντέταλται, λέγουσα· «Καὶ ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς λαὸν κἀγὼ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς θεόν.» Οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων λαὸς εἶναι θεοῦ λαὸς ἔστιν θεοῦ. Ἐκεῖνος οὖν ὁ ἐπαγγει λάμενος εἶναι λαὸς θεοῦ «οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς» ἤκουσαν ἐν τῷ «διότι οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς», καὶ ἐρρήθη πρὸς τὸν λαὸν ἐκεῖνον «οὐ λαός μου», καὶ πάλιν οὗτος ὁ λαὸς ἐκλήθη «λαός»· «αὐτοὶ» γὰρ «παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπ' οὐ θεῷ»-περὶ ἐκείνων δὲ λέγει- »παρώργισάν με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν· κἀγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, 9.3 ἐπ' ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ αὐτούς». Γεγόναμεν οὖν ἡμεῖς τῷ θεῷ εἰς λαόν, καὶ «ἡ δικαιοσύνη τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναγ γέλλεται τῷ λαῷ τῷ τεχθησομένῳ» τῷ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Οὗτος γὰρ ὁ λαὸς τίκτεται ἀθρόως, καὶ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ δὲ εἴρηται· «Εἰ ἐτέχθη ἔθνος <εἰς> ἅπαξ»· ἐτέχθη δὲ ἔθνος εἰς ἅπαξ, ὅτε ἐπιδεδήμηκεν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ ἐπίστευσαν ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ «χιλιάδες πέντε» καὶ προσετέθησαν ἄλλῃ ἡμέρᾳ χιλιάδες τρεῖς, καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ὅλον λαὸν τικτό μενον λόγῳ θεοῦ καὶ ἀθρόως τίκτουσαν τὴν στεῖραν, τὴν πρότερον οὐ τεκοῦσαν, πρὸς ἣν λέγεται· «Εὐφράνθητι στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα»· ἔρημος αὕτη νόμου, ἔρημος αὕτη θεοῦ ἦν, ἔχουσα δὲ ἄνδρα τὸν νόμον ἐκείνη ἡ συναγωγὴ λέλεκται. Τί οὖν μοι ἐπαγγέλλεται ὁ θεός; «Ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς λαὸν κἀγὼ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς θεόν.» Οὐκ ἔστιν πάντων θεὸς ἀλλ' ἢ ἐκείνων οἷς χαρίζεται ἑαυτόν, ὥσπερ ἐχαρίσατο ἑαυτὸν τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἐκείνῳ ᾧ εἶπεν· «Ἐγὼ θεὸς σός», καὶ πάλιν ἄλλῳ· «Ἐγὼ ἔσομαί σου θεός», καὶ περὶ ἑτέρων· «Ἔσομαι αὐτῶν θεός.» Πότε οὖν ἄρα ἡμεῖς ἐπιτυγχάνομεν, ὁ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγω, εἰς τὸ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι ἡμῶν θεόν; Εἰ δὲ θέλεις μαθεῖν, τίνων ἐστὶν ὁ θεὸς καὶ τίνι χαρίζεται τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπίκλησιν· «Ἐγώ» φησιν «θεὸς Ἀβραάμ, θεὸς Ἰσαάκ, θεὸς Ἰακώβ», καὶ διηγούμενος τὸ τοιοῦτον ὁ σωτήρ φησιν· «Ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἔστιν νεκρῶν ἀλλὰ ζώντων.» Τίς ὁ νεκρός; Ὁ ἁμαρτωλός, ὁ μὴ ἔχων τὸν εἰπόντα· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή», ὁ ἔχων «νε κρὰ ἔργα», ὁ μηδέπω μετανοήσας ἀπὸ «νεκρῶν ἔργων», περὶ ὧν φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος· «Μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον κατα βαλλόμενοι μετανοίας ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων.» Εἰ τοίνυν «ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἔστιν νεκρῶν θεὸς ἀλλὰ ζών των», καὶ οἴδαμεν τίς